ASPLU Program Review FAQs

In the 2025-26 school year, ASPLU will conduct a program review, researching PLU and other universities to determine why our student governance program has not been thriving as much as it has in the past and what we can do moving forward to improve its performance. We will be doing research at PLU along with other schools to answer these questions. These may look like interviewing students at PLU and student leaders at other schools, sending out questionnaires and surveys, etc.

ASPLU, along with university-level student governments across the nation, are not thriving as much as they have in the past. This can be shown through low participation during voting seasons, low attendance at events, and minimal input from the student body regarding their concerns, etc. ASPLU will be conducting research to figure out why this is happening, along with what we can do moving forward to gain more student participation, leading to a thriving student government. This research will also be shared with other universities that share the same concerns to help student governments across the nation thrive as they once did.

Yes! We will be returning in the 2026-27 school year, and continue to be a resource after; however, it will most likely look different from how it has looked in the past based on our findings from the Program Review.

Though the program may be on hiatus, all vital ASPLU events (ex., Rock the Vote, Town Hall, etc.), as well as responsibilities (ex., Budget Advisory Committee, Perseverance Week snacks, Board of Regents, etc.), will still continue. They simply will not be run by the ASPLU program; they may be covered by departments or specialty-hired student(s).

We will use this budget to compensate students who participate in the work of the Program Review with the support of Advisors. Budget will also be used to provide resources for program review related activities, such as town halls.

A program review is a comprehensive assessment of what you’re doing and how you’re doing it. When done on a regular basis, the focus can be on improvement. It can also be used as a tool for reimagining and redesigning the program. This is a standard approach across PLU and higher education. While we should always be undertaking some level of self-review and assessment with a focus on continuous improvement, this is a dedicated approach that allows for people to focus on deep research and imagining around a specific topic (the revision of ASPLU).

Students! Many of those involved are former ASPLU members, but we are also looking for students who have not been on ASPLU before to get new diverse perspectives!

The best thing you can do for our cause is to fill out the questionnaires honestly and thoughtfully. We genuinely want to improve, so we won’t be upset if we receive genuine criticism. If you would like to have a larger role on the project and help with the behind the scenes work, check out this part of the website!

Reach out to us! We’re collecting questions and will update this FAQ page on a regular basis. We can also answer one-off questions for folks. Please email ASPLU@plu.edu with your questions.